Touching You, Touching Me

It’s sad that The Darkness split up. They were a great British rock band
with good songs and nice tongue-in-cheek image and attitude. When their debut album Permission to Land (2003) came out I heard the hit singles on the radio, saw the videos on TV and I liked all that stuff. It’s really hard not to smile when you hear a song like I Believe in a Thing Called Love. That kind of music should really be played more on the radio! Fun and happy music is something that is completely underrated these days.

It was my friend who encouraged me to listen to more of The Darkness. I listened to the debut album and it felt good. It was a bit heavier kind of music than what I tend to listen to, but the good melodies and Justin Hawkins’s unique singing voice helped me to get into it. The singles such as Get Your Hands off My Woman and Love Is Only a Feeling highlight the album.

The second album was even better. One Way Ticket to Hell… And Back (2006) was a bit lighter and definitely more melody-centered than its predecessor. One Way Ticket, Is It Just Me?, and Dinner Lady Arms are excellent songs. Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time is stunningly beautiful. In fact, everything about this album is excellent. Justin Hawkins captures a plenty of emotion in these songs. It’s really amazing how beautifully he utilizes his entire vocal range and sense of dynamics.

The amazing Hazel Eyes is worth mentioning, and so is Bald (gorgeus stuff!). Allman Brothers-like guitars and huge layered background vocals give this album lots of Queen feel (check out the harmonies on Blind Man – they’ll surely give you chills!). This album was produced by Roy Thomas Baker (which seems totally obvious now – especially given that I’ve recently been listening quite a lot to The Cars…). I’m not a big lyrics person, but I know these songs also have fun and witty lyrics.

All in all, The Darkness created some awesome melodic hard rock with nice sentimentality. Their music is capable of making anyone smile. Just listen to those songs (and perhaps watch the music video for Girlfriend) and it’ll make your day!

Justin Hawkins left the band but the remaining members of The Darkness continue making music as Stone Gods. I guess I could check out their stuff sometime.

The Darkness at MySpace
Stone Gods Website

The Cars Rule

I have barely listened to anything else but The Cars during the past week. I love that stuff. Their music videos are also cool (some of them totally hilarious!), so I’ve spent some quality time on YouTube, too.

As a power pop fan I’ve naturally focused first on The Cars’ early records. The debut album (The Cars, 1978) is awesome. My Best Friend's Girl, Good Times Roll, You're All I've Got Tonight, Bye Bye Love – it’s impossible to dislike these songs. Just What I Needed is also one of the greatest songs ever. This material is mostly basic power pop: nothing too complicated, excellent songs and melodies, solid singing and playing.

Moving in Stereo is a very interesting, yet catchy song with Benjamin Orr utilizing his low vocals nicely. Songwriter Ric Ocasek also provides several songs with his quirky but extremely enjoyable vocals. Greg Hawkes’s synth lines and Elliot Easton’s solo guitar work decorate the album. Then there are of course those huge Queen-like harmonies that producer Roy Thomas Baker (who had actually produced several albums for Queen) wanted to be added to the album. Those harmonies are of course great. Seriously, who doesn’t like layered multipart harmonies? (Yeah, ok, some people.. Maybe.)

This self-titled debut album is pretty much as good as everyone claims it to be. Still, I’m not really sure if it actually is The Cars’ best. For some reason, I seem to love their second album Candy-O (1979) even more than its predecessor. Maybe that’s because Candy-O contains a bit more emotion-appealing songs, and it’s also weirder as an album. (Nice cover art, btw...)

The opening track of Candy-O is Let’s Go, a nice party song with handclaps. Then comes Since I Held You, a song whose chorus reminds me of The Flamin’ Groovies. It’s a very nice and beautiful song. All I Can Do is also very lovely. Double Life, Got a Lot on My Head (that nearly sounds like an unnoticed power pop classic), and Dangerous Type are also very good songs.

Shoo Be Doo is something very strange that appears in the middle of the album. It’s a very short song, and it sounds like Joy Division or something like that (JD’s awesome, btw!). Shoo Be Doo’s weird, but I like it. Title track follows it, sounding excellent. In that song and Night Spots this album really begins to show some darker feel. I haven’t really thought about it before, but yeah, Candy-O is darker than The Cars’ first album. Great albums, both of them!

Also, I have to say that I’m totally fond of the Complete Greatest Hits CD. I don’t tend to like greatest hits albums, but this is an exception. All 20 songs on it are perfect. I would replace one or two songs with some others but it’s not such a big thing. It’s a nice feeling when you can’t stop listening to the album until the final track, the wonderful You Are the Girl.

My next assignment: listen to the rest of The Cars’ albums. I’ve already listened to Heartbeat City (1984), but I’ll discuss that later. This post is already too long..

The Cars at MySpace